Maria Full of Grace
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoshua Marston
Written byJoshua Marston
Produced byPaul S. Mezey
StarringCatalina Sandino Moreno
Yenny Paola Vega
John Álex Toro
Guilied Lopez
Patricia Rae
CinematographyJim Denault
Edited byAnne McCabe
Lee Percy
Music byLeonardo Heiblum
Jacobo Lieberman
Production
companies
HBO Films
Journeyman Pictures
Distributed byTayrona Entertainment Group (Colombia)
Fine Line Features (United States)
Release dates
  • 18 January 2004 (2004-01-18) (Sundance)
  • 2 April 2004 (2004-04-02) (Colombia)
  • 8 June 2004 (2004-06-08) (USA)
Running time
101 minutes
CountriesColombia
United States
LanguageSpanish
Budget$3.2 million[1]
Box office$12.6 million[2]

Maria Full of Grace (Spanish title: María, llena eres de gracia, lit., "Maria, you are full of grace") is a 2004 Spanish-language drama film written and directed by Joshua Marston. The film was produced between Colombia and the United States. The story follows a Colombian girl who becomes a drug mule for a trafficking ring. Lead actress Catalina Sandino Moreno was named Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in the 77th Academy Awards.

Plot

Seventeen-year-old Colombian girl Maria Álvarez works in sweatshop-like conditions at a flower plantation. Her income helps support her family, including an unemployed sister who is a single mother, but after unjust treatment from her boss, she quits her job de-thorning roses, despite her family's vehement disapproval. Shortly thereafter, Maria discovers she is pregnant by her boyfriend, and he suggests marriage, but she declines because she does not feel she loves him, or that he loves her. On her way to Bogotá to find a new job, she is offered a position as a drug mule. Desperate, she accepts the risky offer, and swallows 62 wrapped pellets of drugs, and flies to New York City with her friend Blanca, who has also been recruited as a drug mule.

Maria is almost caught by U.S. customs who are suspicious after finding Maria's $800 in cash and wanting to make a surprise visit to a sister she "hasn't seen in years", but not knowing anywhere else to go if she isn't home. She tells them that the father of her child paid for her plane ticket. She avoids being X-rayed due to her pregnancy, and is released. The traffickers collect Maria, Blanca, and Lucy, another more experienced mule that Maria had befriended during her recruitment. The mules are held in a motel room until they pass all the drug pellets. Lucy falls ill when a drug pellet apparently ruptures inside her. Unknown to the traffickers, Maria witnesses them carrying Lucy out of the hotel room, and she sees blood stains in the bathtub. She comes to the conclusion that the traffickers cut her open to retrieve the other drug pellets inside her body. Scared, Maria convinces Blanca to escape with her while the traffickers are gone. They leave with the drugs they have passed.

Maria has nowhere to sleep, and goes to Lucy's sister's house, but doesn't reveal to the sister that Lucy is dead. Blanca soon joins her there. Eventually the sister unexpectedly hears of their involvement in her sister's death and throws them out. Blanca and Maria make an agreement to return the drugs to the traffickers and receive their money. Maria uses some of her drug money to send Lucy's body home to Colombia for a proper burial. Maria and Blanca are ready to board the plane back to Colombia when Maria decides to stay in the United States. Blanca returns home without Maria.

Cast

  • Catalina Sandino Moreno as Maria Álvarez
  • John Álex Toro as Franklin
  • Johanna Andrea Mora as Diana Álvarez
  • Virginia Ariza as Juana
  • Yenny Paola Vega as Blanca
  • Guilied Lopez as Lucy Díaz
  • Orlando Tobón as Don Fernando
  • Patricia Rae as Carla
  • Rodrigo Sánchez Borhorquez as the supervisor
  • Charles Albert Patiño as Felipe
  • Wilson Guerrero as Juan
  • Fabricio Suarez, Mateo Suarez as Pacho
  • Evangelina Morales as Rosita
  • Juana Guarderas as a pharmacist
  • Jaime Osorio Gómez as Javier
  • Victor Macias as Pellet maker
  • Selenis Leyva as Customs Inspector

Production

Writing

Writer and director Joshua Marston was inspired to write the film after a conversation he had with a real-life drug mule who transported illegal drugs inside her body.[3] He first attempted to write a script about the drug war, but decided to abandon a more polemical, broader approach in favor of a more personal one.[4][5] For research, he interviewed prisoners, flower plantation workers in Colombia, U.S. Customs inspectors, and Colombian immigrants living in Queens, New York.[3][5] When Marston showed his finished script to potential producers, they resisted his decision to shoot the film in Spanish and suggested big-name actresses like Penélope Cruz or Jennifer Lopez for Maria.[4] Marston gave the script to producer Paul Mezey, who loved it and took it to HBO. Said Marston, "HBO told Paul to just make it. In Spanish. With a first-time filmmaker. With an unknown cast. I think I owe my first-born child to HBO."[4][6]

I didn’t want to do the sort of story we’ve seen before about drug trafficking. I didn’t want to tell the story from the point of view of the cop, or the DEA agent, or the drug lord. I wanted to turn that story on its head and tell it from the point of view of the little person, the person who’s normally demonized and criminalized. That’s part of the ideology of the drug war, to render things in black and white, and to say the person who [smuggles drugs] is a bad person who needs to be put in jail, and that the solution to all this is to beef up the border and hire more customs agents and build more prison cells.

— Joshua Marston on the inspiration for the film[5]

Casting

Marston considered about 800 actresses to play Maria; with weeks to go before filming, Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno sent in an audition tape and won the role, her first screen credit.[7] As preparation, Sandino Moreno worked on a flower plantation for two weeks.[5]

The character of Don Fernando is played by Orlando Tobón, who is known as the "Mayor of Little Colombia" in Queens.[3] The character is based on Tobón’s real-life work as a counselor and middleman for Colombian immigrants in need.[8][9][10] Tobón is also credited as an associated producer on the film.[3]

Filming

Filming was planned to take place in Colombia, but was prevented due to several bombings prior to the country’s 2002 presidential election.[3] Venezuela was considered as an alternate option until an attempted coup d’état erupted, so filming eventually took place in the Ecuadorian village of Amaguaña.[3] The film shot for 20 days in Ecuador, with a second unit in Colombia, and 20 days in New York.[4]

To ease the process of making a bilingual film, Marston encouraged the actors to improvise: "[During rehearsals] I gave all the actors half the script for 24 hours and then took it back from them. I didn’t want them to know how it ended. I took it back so that three weeks later, when we started improvising, we could improvise loosely based on what was written, so they wouldn’t be stuck on the words. We would arrive at a location and start improvising and do three or four improvs based on a rough memory of what happened in the scene. Then we would open the script and reread what I had written, turn to a blank page, pass a pen around in a circle and rewrite the scene together. So partly the structure of the scene would change, but more frequently the actual word choice would change. This was so [the actors] would have a certain sense of ownership over the way their characters spoke."[4]

In the film, Sandino Moreno swallowed real pellets, though they were not latex and contained an easily digestible sugar-like substance.[11]

Release

Maria Full of Grace was first shown on 18 January 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. On 11 February 2004, it was shown at the Berlin Film Festival. It premiered in Colombia on 2 April, 2004. The film was originally going to premiere on HBO, but the film’s success at Sundance, as well as the success of Latina film Real Women Have Curves,[3] prompted Fine Line Features to release the film theatrically.[7] The film had a limited release on 16 July 2004,[4] before going wide in the United States on 6 August 2004.[2]

Reception

Critical response

The film was critically acclaimed. It garnered a 97% approval rating on the aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 146 reviews, and an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus states, "In a striking debut, Moreno carries the movie and puts a human face on the drug trade".[12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[13]

According to Desson Thomson from The Washington Post, "Catalina Sandino Moreno is a Colombian Mona Lisa, a delicate, unforgettable force majeure. Add to her luminous demeanor a story that rips fleshy holes through your heart and you've got yourself a stunner of a film".[14] Roger Ebert awarded the film 3 and a half stars out of 4 and said, "Like [Ken] Loach, Marston has made a film that understands and accepts poverty without feeling the need to romanticize or exaggerate it. Also like Loach, he shows us how evil things happen because of economic systems, not because villains gnash their teeth and hog the screen. Hollywood simplifies the world for moviegoers by pretending evil is generated by individuals, not institutions; kill the bad guy, and the problem is solved."[9]

Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising Moreno's performance, the screenplay, and Maston's direction, saying: "Remember the name Catalina Sandino Moreno. The heartfelt and harrowing performance she gives here should put her in line for a heap of year-end awards."[15]

The film was nominated to the Golden Bear at the 54th Berlin Film Festival.[16]

The film had originally been selected by Colombia to be its official choice for Best International Feature at the 77th Academy Awards. However, it was rejected because it was considered to be not Colombian enough; the film El Rey was submitted instead.[17]

Box office

Its total worldwide gross stands at $12,594,630 ($6,529,624 at the American box office, and $6,065,006 from other territories).[2]

Accolades

List of Accolades
Award / Film Festival Category Recipient(s) Result
77th Academy Awards[18] Best Actress in a Leading Role Catalina Sandino Moreno Nominated
Argentine Film Critics Association Best Ibero-American Film Joshua Marston Won
54th Berlin Film Festival[16] Golden Bear Nominated
Silver Bear Catalina Sandino Moreno Won
Alfred Bauer Award Joshua Marston Won
25th Boston Society of Film Critics Awards[19] Best New Filmmaker 2nd Place
10th Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards[20] Best Actress Catalina Sandino Moreno Nominated
Best Foreign Language Film Joshua Marston Nominated
Cartagena Film Festival[21] Golden India Catalina for Best Actress Catalina Sandino Moreno Won
Special Jury Prize Joshua Marston Won
17th Chicago Film Critics Association[19] Most Promising Performer Catalina Sandino Moreno Won
10th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association[22] Best Actress Nominated
Best Foreign Language Film Joshua Marston Nominated
Russell Smith Award Won
Deauville Film Festival[23] Grand Prix Won
Prix du Public Won
Prix de la Critique Internationale Won
14th Gotham Independent Film Awards[24] Breakthrough Actor Catalina Sandino Moreno Won
Breakthrough Director Joshua Marston Won
20th Independent Spirit Awards[25][26] Best Film Paul Mezey Nominated
Best Director Joshua Marston Nominated
Best Female Lead Catalina Sandino Moreno Won
Best Supporting Female Yenny Paola Vega Nominated
Best First Screenplay Joshua Marston Won
26th London Film Critics Circle Awards[27] Actress of the Year Catalina Sandino Moreno Nominated
30th Los Angeles Film Critics Association[19] New Generation Award Catalina Sandino Moreno and Joshua Marston Won
76th National Board of Review[28] Top Foreign Films Joshua Marston Won
70th New York Film Critics Circle[19] Best First Film Won
8th Online Film Critics Society[29] Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
Best Breakthrough Filmmaker Nominated
Best Breakthrough Performance Catalina Sandino Moreno Won
3rd San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards[19] Best Foreign Language Film Joshua Marston Won
9th Satellite Awards[30] Best Film – Drama Nominated
Best Director – Motion Picture Nominated
Best Actress - Drama Catalina Sandino Moreno Nominated
11th Screen Actors Guild Awards[31] Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Nominated
Seattle International Film Festival[32] Best Actress Won
Sundance Film Festival[4] Audience Award Dramatic Joshua Marston Won
8th Toronto Film Critics Association Awards[33] Best First Feature Won
5th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
3rd Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association[19] Best Foreign Language Film Won

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Maria Full of Grace (2004)". The Numbers. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Maria Full of Grace at Box Office Mojo
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "AFI Movie Club: Maria Full of Grace". AFI. 4 October 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Mule Variations". Filmmaker. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Thompson, N.P. (April 2004). "Re-visiting Maria Full of Grace: a chat with Catalina Sandino Moreno and Joshua Marston, plus a few comments on the Oscar noms". Vigilance. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  6. ↑ Horn, John (19 September 2004). "HBO Emerges as a Mecca for Maverick Filmmakers". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  7. 1 2 Horn, John (11 February 2005). "In Oscar's spotlight -- but who is she?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  8. ↑ Kilgannon, Corey (5 August 2004). "PUBLIC LIVES; Playing Himself, the Drug Mule's Last Friend". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  9. 1 2 Ebert, Roger (30 July 2004). "Drug-running tale of 'Maria' as fresh, real as life". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  10. ↑ ""Maria Full of Grace": A Magnificently Low-Key Look at the Dramatic World of Drug Smuggling". IndieWire. 7 July 2004. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  11. ↑ "From Drug Mule to Miss Colombia". The New York Times. 13 February 2005. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  12. ↑ "Maria Full of Grace (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  13. ↑ "Maria Full of Grace Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  14. ↑ Thomson, Desson (30 July 2004). "'Maria' Full of Grace Indeed". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  15. ↑ Travers, Peter (14 July 2004). "Maria Full of Grace". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  16. 1 2 "Programme 2004". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  17. ↑ Hart, Hugh (19 December 2004). "Industry buzz". San Francisco Chronicle.
  18. ↑ "77th Academy Awards". oscars.org. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The scoreboard". Variety. 9 January 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  20. ↑ "10th Critics' Choice Movie Awards". bfca.org. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  21. ↑ Laurier, Joanne (4 September 2004). "Unholy circumstances". WSWS. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  22. ↑ Montgomery, Steve. "Awards Season News: Spidey Defeats Jesus + Jason". altfg.com. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  23. ↑ "Maria Full of Grace wins top Deauville prize". Sydney Morning Herald. 13 September 2004. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  24. ↑ "IFP/New York Announces Breakthrough Actor and Director Nominees for December Gotham Awards". IndieWire. 1 November 2004. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  25. ↑ ""Sideways" and "Maria Full of Grace" Lead Spirit Award Nominations". IndieWire. 1 December 2004. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  26. ↑ "'Sideways' wins best picture, five other Independent Spirit Awards". Tampa Bay Times. 27 February 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  27. ↑ "London Critics Circle nominations announced". Time Out London. 22 December 2005. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  28. ↑ "2004 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  29. ↑ "2004 Awards (8th Annual)". ofcs.org. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  30. ↑ "9th Annual Satellite Awards". International Press Academy. Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  31. ↑ "11th Screen Actors Guild Awards". sagawards.org. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  32. ↑ "Golden Space Needle History 2000-2009". Seattle International Film Festival. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  33. ↑ "2004 Awards". Toronto Film Critics. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
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